Jennifer Kupcho, Minjee Lee lead Chevron Championship after first round in Rancho Mirage
After one round of play at the 51st Chevron Championship, there is a tie atop the leaderboard between Jennifer Kupcho and Minjee Lee at 6-under par.
Tied at the 𝘵𝘰𝘱.#TheChevronChampionship pic.twitter.com/w3Nw4nociI
— The Chevron Championship (@Chevron_Golf) March 31, 2022
This is the final playing of this esteemed event in our valley before it moves to Houston in 2023 and players will certainly miss playing here.
Scenes from the first round of the @Chevron_Golf courtesy of @Tarp1969. Like I told the boys this week, it’s all gas no brakes, AGNB April. And it couldn’t come at a more perfect time with the Chevron Championship in town. Fill the tank! ⛽️⛳️🏆 @KESQ @BaileyKESQ @Jesus_G_Reyes pic.twitter.com/3J2NUzSULW
— Blake Arthur (@BlakeArthur24) March 31, 2022
The Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club always receives high marks as one of the best conditioned courses on the LPGA Tour schedule.
How crisp is @MissionHillsCC1 for the #ChevronChampionship?
— Bailey Arredondo (@BaileyKESQ) March 31, 2022
-3 (69) @Lexi says she usually aims her putts at imperfections on the green...but there were none today for her to aim at. A good problem! 😂 ⛳️ @BlakeArthur24 @KESQ pic.twitter.com/ENgYMpRQJ3
Stay with News Channel 3's Sports Director Blake Arthur and Bailey Arredondo for continuing coverage of the Chevron Championship.
FULL PRESS RELEASE FROM CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP
| CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD | |||
| Player | To Par | Score | |
| T1 | Jennifer Kupcho | -6 | 66 |
| T1 | Minjee Lee | -6 | 66 |
| 3 | Patty Tavatanakit | -5 | 67 |
TWO TIED ATOP CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD AFTER FIRST ROUND
After 18 holes at the 51st edition of The Chevron Championship, Jennifer Kupcho and Minjee Lee are tied for the top spot after first-round 66s. This is the first time either player has held the first-round lead in a major championship. Lee’s bogey-free 66 was her best opening round in a major since the 2018 AIG Women’s Open and is her best score at Mission Hills Country Club since a 64 in the third round in 2018.
“I started on the back nine. I think I made maybe three birdies in the first maybe six holes, so off to a pretty nice start,” said Lee. “Just tried to just trust the process, my process, and just have a good back nine. Finished with two birdies, so it was nice.”
Kupcho carded nine birdies and three bogeys, becoming the sixth player since 2015 to post nine sub-pars in a round. The Colorado native, who missed the cut last week at the JTBC Classic by one shot, last shot a 66 to start a major at the 2019 Amundi Evian Championship, where she ultimately finished in a tie for second.
“I really like the layout of this golf course, the beautiful shape that it's in every year,” said Kupcho. “It always is so fun to be here, so just taking advantage of how much I like the course and the atmosphere.”
Defending champion Patty Tavatanakit picked up right where she left off in Rancho Mirage, recording a 5-under 67, the lowest opening round for a defending Chevron champion since the championship was declared a major in 1983. Tavatanakit is vying to become the second player to ever successfully defend this major, only achieved by Annika Sorenstam (2001, 2002).
“I was just calm. Something about this place just keeps me really calm, just really present. I think that's how I was able to turn my momentum mid-round,” said Tavatanakit, who posted four birdies in her final nine holes. “
Gabriela Ruffels, who finished T19 in 2021 to earn a spot in this year’s championship, is tied for fourth with five players at -4, a group that includes 2016 Chevron champion Lydia Ko, along with 2018 and 2021 AIG Women’s Open winners Georgia Hall and Anna Nordqvist. Ko, who tied the tournament scoring record in last year’s final round (62, -10), is making her 10th appearance in the desert, and carded her 11th career round in the 60s at Mission Hills on Thursday.
“I played really solid overall. When I missed a green I was able to make up and down for most parts, and when I did miss a fairway I was able to recover well with the second shot or third shot coming in,” said Ko. “Overall I think a lot of positives to take from today. On my back nine there were a couple putts that shoulda, coulda, woulda gone in but didn't. I feel like that's the case in any round.”
2014 champion Lexi Thompson posted a 3-under 69 to sit in a tie for 10th with five others, including fellow major champion Hinako Shibuno and 2022 LPGA Tour rookie Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, who is making her debut in the major championship. World No. 1 Jin Young Ko’s LPGA Tour record of consecutive rounds under par streak ended with a 2-over 74, her first round without any sub-par hole scores since the 2021 HSBC Women’s World Championship.
KUPCHO PUTS DRIVER WOES BEHIND HER TO TAKE CHEVRON LEAD
After yesterday’s pro-am, Jennifer Kupcho headed right to the range at Mission Hills Country Club and pulled her driver out of the bag. The long-hitting Coloradan considers her driver to be the best club in her bag, and her performance, even under no pressure, left her frustrated.
Move ahead to Thursday’s first round at The Chevron Championship and it looks like Kupcho’s work more than paid off. Her round of 6-under 66, her lowest career round on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course, shot her to the top of the leaderboard alongside Minjee Lee.
“You really need to hit fairways on a major golf course, so that was like my biggest thing today, is hit a bunch of fairways,” said Kupcho, who only missed three fairways on Thursday. “That really set me up for all my birdies.”
Nine birdies and three bogeys later, Kupcho is right in contention for her first LPGA Tour title. Since turning professional in May 2019, she has 11 top-10 finishes, including a tie for second at the 2019 Amundi Evian Championship and a tie for seventh at the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
CAROLINE MASSON MUSCLES HER WAY TO OPENING 68 AT MISSION HILLS
It hasn’t been a great start to the season for Germany’s Caroline Masson. Her best result so far is a T20 at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony and she’s made two additional cuts, finishing T51 in Singapore and T47 in Thailand. In short, nothing to write home about. But Masson is looking to change that narrative at this week’s Chevron Championship. After an opening 4-under 68 on Thursday that saw her battle back from an early bogey on the par-5 second, she’s well on her way to doing so.
“It was good for the heart, good for the soul, too,” said Masson, who carded five birdies in round one. “It's tough because things have not been going great in the last few weeks. You always say, oh, no, not again. Not this kind of stuff. I had a really good straight birdie putt on 1 and didn't make it, and then I did that on 2 and I knew it may happen. I had to dig deep. When things are not going well and you don't get off to a great start, a lot of times it can snowball from there, and we didn't let that happen today, which was nice.”
Masson has made 10 starts at The Chevron Championship and has made the cut every time she’s teed it up, with her two best finishes being a pair of top-10s, a T6 in 2016 and a T9 in 2018. Masson has additionally finished in the top-15 twice at this event in 2013 and 2014, and her first-round 68 ties the German’s second-lowest score at the Dinah Shore, a number she’s fired three other times. With all of that past experience, the 32-year-old veteran knows what it takes to play well here and she hopes to continue her strong play throughout the rest of the week, relishing her last few loops at Mission Hills.
“We worked hard after missing the cut last week and got a couple key thoughts. It's working so far and it’s really fun to hit the ball like that,” she said. “I've always loved this place since the first time I played here. So many good memories. Definitely sad. I understand why we're doing it, but I'm trying to soak in every second being out here. The golf course is playing as good as ever, and just really trying to enjoy every single minute out here.”
ANNIE PARK REFRESHED AFTER TWO-MONTH PERSONAL BREAK
Annie Park stamped her invitation to The Chevron Championship with an up-and-down for par at last week’s JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol. With that tie for 23rd (her best finish since June 2021), Park clinched the 80th spot in the Race to the CME Globe and the 115th – and final – berth in the season’s first major.
Sure, the spot in a major is a great payoff for last week’s success. But the smile on Park’s face after her opening-round 69 at Mission Hills Country Club was as much about her mental state as it was the state of her game. Park, the proverbial “can’t miss kid” coming out of college and the 2018 ShopRite LPGA Classic winner, seriously thought about hanging up her clubs in 2020.
“I was miserable on the golf course, and I was like, you know what, I'm going to take a two-month break. I withdrew out of Evian, British, and two other tournaments,” said Park, who didn’t break the top 10 at all in 2020. “Honestly, I really needed it. I've never done that in my past couple years. It was really nice. I was like, Let's take this two months off.”
She returned to the LPGA Tour for the final four events of 2020, still struggling but preserving her LPGA Tour status. She said last week in Carlsbad was finally the breakthrough moment she’d been looking for. “Last week was the first time I actually enjoyed playing golf. I was happy to be out there, see my friends, see the spectators again after COVID,” said Park. “I feel like I found this new passion again for golf that I've been grinding for so long and being able to take that break was huge.”
Park will enter the second round of The Chevron in a tie for 10th at -3, three shots behind co-leaders Jennifer Kupcho and Minjee Lee. Thursday was Park’s best career round on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course and the first time she’s ever returned a round in the 60s in Rancho Mirage.
KPMG PERFORMANCE INSIGHTS FIRST-ROUND RECAP – THE CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP
Minjee Lee opened The Chevron Championship with a 66, one shot off her lowest ever first-round score in a major championship. Lee opened with 65 at the 2018 Women’s Open before finishing in 10th.
| Minjee LeeLowest Opening Round Scores in Majors | ||
| Finished | ||
| 2018 AIG Women’s Open | 65 | 10th |
| 2022 Chevron Championship | 66 | ? |
| 2016 U.S. Women’s Open | 67 | T46 |
| 2021 Amundi Evian Championship | 68 | Won |
| 2015 Amundi Evian Championship | 68 | T11 |
Lee entered the week as the runaway LPGA Tour leader in strokes gained tee-to-green and strokes gained approach per round since tracking began last season at the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship. A look at the gap she’s generated between her and second-best:
| Minjee Lee – Strokes Gained RanksSince Tracking Began Last Season | ||
| Approach | Tee-to-Green | |
| Per Round | 2.15 | 2.81 |
| LPGA Rank | 1st | 1st |
| Gap above 2nd place | .48 | .35 |
Lee was excellent on approach shots from 125 to 150 yards away during the first round, averaging 14 feet from the hole from that range on Thursday.
| Minjee Lee – Strokes Gained RanksSince Tracking Began Last Season | |
| Minjee Lee – 1sr Rd | 14’0” |
| LPGA average last two seasons | 26’6” |
All six approach shots were inside 25 feet
For more from KPMG Performance Insights, click here: https://lpga.box.com/s/a3trqatrsmrpdc206o9h9hdxqv1bi2bu
PLAYER NOTES
Rolex Rankings No. 53 Jennifer Kupcho (66)
- She hit 11 of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens, with 24 putts
- This is Kupcho’s second appearance at The Chevron Championship; she tied for 22nd in 2020 and tied for 60th in 2021
- This is her fourth season on the LPGA Tour; her career-best result is 2nd, recorded three times and last at the 2021 LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala
- This is Kupcho’s sixth event of the LPGA Tour season; her season-best result is a tie for sixth at the Honda LPGA Thailand
- Member of Team USA at the 2021 Solheim Cup
- Finished T39 at the 2011 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to first earn LPGA Tour status
- Won the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019
- Graduated from Wake Forest University in 2019 with a degree in Communications
- 2018 NCAA Division I Individual National Champion, and was the first wire-to-wire NCAA champion since 2002
- 2018 NCAA Player of the Year
- Won the inaugural 2019 Augusta National Women’s Amateur
- Played on the victorious 2018 U.S. Curtis Cup, Women’s World Amateur and Palmer Cup teams
Rolex Rankings No. 4 Minjee Lee (66)
- She hit 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens with 27 putts
- Lee’s opening 66 is her second-lowest score at Mission Hills; her lowest was a third-round 64 in the 2018 Chevron Championship
- Her bogey-free 66 is also 1 shot off her lowest career opening-round score in a major
- This is her fourth event of the 2022 season; she’s had a top-five finish (T2, HSBC Women’s World Championship) and one top-15 finish (T12, Honda LPGA Thailand)
- This is her eighth season on the LPGA Tour; she has six career wins and 60 career top-10s
- This is Lee’s ninth appearance at The Chevron Championship; her best finish at Mission Hills is a tie for third in 2017
- Lee leads the LPGA in Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green & Strokes Gained Approach since tracking began last season
- She represented Australia at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic games finishing T7 and T29 respectively
- Lee was the low amateur at the 2014 Chevron Championship
- Brother Min Woo Lee plays on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour
